Tamed Lightning, and Plot Continuity

[Benjamin Napthe]

It's cheering to recognize competence in the Proboards Role-playing forums.

Anyway, I've a couple questions before I submit my character profile, if only to spare the administrators from unnecessary clarifications afterward.

Principally: Are there any sort of electrical generators functioning outside Leeds? I though it best not to assume that York or Bradford had developed a improvised grid, but, honestly, even the rudest turbine could be built with scrap metals, and a few knowledgeable engineers.

Additionally: I might be a fool, but is there any limit on the number of active threads a character may be involved in? An adherence to realism would dictate a resounding NO!, and in any event, I wouldn't want to juggle more than one role-playing instance at a time. Still, it's a question that other, less intuitive guests will ask, so I'll save them the embarrassment of asking.

[Anthony M. Steiner]

That's a pretty good question. Nice character pic for an avatar by the way. Very fitting.

[Benjamin Napthe]

I've been developing my character on the premise that he was able to escape from the massacre at Leeds, an event which screams to me betrayal, deeper motives, and drama at its finest.

Oh, and thank you you very much. ;D

Gerard Butler wasn't my first choice, but once I found that picture, nothing else would do.

[Esper Kohnen]

I'll let Mark answer your first query, as the RP comes from his imagination and he's 'the ideas guy'.

As for the multiple threads at a time, that's allowed. I know strict adherence to realism would mean that people can only be in one place at a time, but if a member you're posting with goes on holiday, their computer breaks, focuses on studying or work, has private life issues etc. meaning they can't log on, then that leaves members hanging on a single unfinished thread. By the one thread at a time system, plot developments would happen really slowly and it would take a member ages to amass enough posts to buy anything. So yeah, because of all the inconveniences having a one at a time rule would bring, we don't have it. It's up to people to set their own sense of time, though, knowing which RPs occur before other ones.

[Benjamin Napthe]

I cede your point, but I may be one of your slow developers. I tend not it involve my characters in more than a few threads at any one time. That said, I could easily make a several additional characters for convenience.

[Mark Sanders]

I'm having some trouble coming up with the details behind the generators. Petrol generators are out of the question, for the simple fact that there is no petrol. I imagine that the richer people could pay people or simply force people to power muscle powered generators to charge their stuff.

The main drawing point of of the Leeds powerplant is that it would be powerful enough to charge gear and batteries quicker and without needing to peddle or anything like that. If anyone has any suggestions on generators that would be cool, but at the moment it's along the lines that only the rich would have small generators. Also all the inhabitatns of a village might chip in for a generator.

I'm still formulating everything in my head at the moment, so eventualy will all be explained. However suggestions are always welcome.

[Benjamin Napthe]

Combustion engines are versitile machines. They can be made to run on anything from grain ethanol to cooking oil. Steam furnaces powered by wood, peat, and coal are another alternative. You've water turbines, simple wind-mills, solenoid relays (Two Magnets and some Coiled Wire),and, perhaps, jury-rigged solar batteries.

The possibilities are muliplex.

[Mark Sanders]

Yeah, I know a little bit about generators. I reckon though for the sake of plot, at the moment it makes the most sense to limit generators to private use for the well-to-do. ANd if villages have public use of a village generator. Otherwise everyone is going t be going around with electrical goods, when the point is that it's 50 years after TEOTWAKI so electrics would be uncommon except n a few cases.

[Anthony M. Steiner]

So private structures may have a wind or water turbine (or if they're really lucky solar), or maybe a possible dynamo hooked to a deep cycle battery array; but as for a town grid, that option is simply off the table. Makes sense too, as the storm fried anything with a circuit board (which included many pre-existing solar/dynamo/wind/etc gennies, because to get the most out of them the newer ones are circuit regulated for optimal output.)

Like the OP stated, internal cumbustion is a more flexible system than some think, BUT there are some draw backs. For a gas engine to be converted to bathtub gin, first comes first. The easiest conversion is with a motor that's fuel injected. A big step to convert it is to swap out all the poly and rubber hosing and lines with copper tubing. The rubber has a past history with dry rotting with straight alcohol, and the plastics have a habit of dissolving under the heat and alcohol exposure. Sure, all this fine and dandy, but what about the oil needed to lube it? Veggie oil, corn oil, olive oil, the options are out there. Big downer coming next. Who in the world is capable of crafting a sparkplug? Answer is "No one".

Diesel though is more likely to have lasted the half century. They are robust, and run on the most flexible of fuel choices. Veggie oil, corn oil, peanut oil, olive oil, kerosene (kerosene is actually very easy to produce and also provides the most fuel per tonnage of raw material, kerosene has actually been made for centuries to be used in lamps.) Out of all the various fossil fuel generators, this is the most likely to have made it this far, but they would be rare indeed and likely used by the Enforcers and Syndicate elite only.

Solar, while possible, is unlikely. Yes, solar cells run off the power of the sun, but remember that they are still poly/synthetic in manufacture. That means that they are also photo-degradable (which is like bio-degradable but instead of tiny organisms making something break down, it's the Sun.) All plastics do this. So solar is likely out all together, if not so rare as to be myth in nature.

Wind/water/dynamo is your most likely power sources to come across, but they too require alot of maintenance and are far to heavy and bulky to be easily transported even by wagon unless broken down into pieces first.

Steam is also a viable option to run across. England and Ireland has plentiful deposits of tar and tar sands, and where there's tar there's coal. One can also use wood, but wood burns up faster and England only had so much forest. Once the forest line started to diminish by a noticeable margin, a moratorium on using the wood as a "electrical power source" would have likely been widely (if unofficially) accepted by the remaining communes. These people may not get along all the time, but they are the ones who are smart enough to survive. Not like the fat and stupid people that make up the majority of our generation.